Special Collections - Anteater Antics

Athletics

UCI Stories exhibit opens Monday, May 23

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Ready for 50+ anteater antics told through conversations between former and current anteaters? Zot zot! Anteaters come together to share memories, events, and changes throughout UC Irvine’s 50 years of history.

The UCI Libraries announce the opening of an exciting new exhibit called UCI Stories: 50th Anniversary Oral History Project, on Monday, May 23rd at 6:30PM in Langson Library, UCI. RSVP here: http://partners.lib.uci.edu/ucistories/rsvp

UCI Stories

Inspired and imprinted with words spoken during the filmed oral histories, UCI Stories highlights the bright past and brilliant future of UCI through the memories, reflections, and predictions of its community. Artfully curated quotes of campus leaders, innovators, alumni, faculty and staff, document how over the past 50 years, UCI has given birth to generations of community-oriented difference-makers driven by a pioneering spirit that has permeated the campus long before a physical building ever stood on the land. UCI Stories captures how this spirit glues UCI together, and often after graduation calls Anteaters back home. Every great story has three main parts: characters with whom you can identify, a memorable and imaginable setting, and a plot based on the unexpected experiences of protagonists. This is UCI Stories.

Opening night speakers are Robert Cohen (UCI Claire Trevor Professor of Drama, Emeritus/Founding Faculty), Jenny Doh ’91 (UCI’s First Student Regent/Past President, UCI Alumni Association), Elizabeth Toomey (Daughter of Founding Chancellor Aldrich/Retired UCI Assistant Vice Chancellor, Community and Government Relations), and Joseph L. White (UCI Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Psychiatry), will engage in a fascinating conversation on UCI’s history and thoughts for the future; with panel moderation by Krystal Tribbett, UCI Libraries 50th Anniversary Project Historian.

The program will be followed by a light reception and exhibit viewing in Langson Library, UCI. The event is free and open to the public. Space is limited; reservations are first come, first served.

UCI Stories Program, May 23

UCI Stories Program. May 23, 2016.

Please go to http://partners.lib.uci.edu/ucistories/rsvp to make an online reservation. For further information please call 949.824.4651 or email partners@uci.edu.

The UCI Stories Project is a unique oral history project, launched by UCI Libraries, that pairs over 100 UCI affiliates for dynamic conversations to commemorate UCI’s 50th Anniversary. The reminiscences collected offer first-hand perspectives that tell the multifaceted story of UCI’s intellectual contributions, key turning points, and unique legacy. The UCI Libraries’ 50th Anniversary Exhibit, “UCI Stories” is a product of this effort.

More information is available here: http://news.lib.uci.edu/events/spring-2016-exhibit-opening-uci-stories

The first Frisbee on this date in 1957, and Ultimate Frisbee at Crawford Field in 1980

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On this date, January 23rd, in 1957, the Wham-O toy company issued the first Frisbee.

In Bridgeport, Connecticut, William Frisbie opened the Frisbie Pie Company in 1871. Students from nearby universities would throw the empty pie tins to each other, yelling “Frisbie!” In 1948, Walter Frederick Morrison and his partner Warren Franscioni invented a plastic version of the disc called the “Flying Saucer” that could fly further and more accurately than the tin pie plates. After splitting with Franscioni, Morrison made an improved model in 1955 and sold it to the new toy company Wham-O as the “Pluto Platter”–an attempt to cash in on the public craze over space and Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs).

In 1958, a year after the toy’s first release, Wham-O changed the name to the Frisbee disc, misspelling the name of the historic pie company. A company designer, Ed Headrick, patented the design for the modern Frisbee in December 1967, adding a band of raised ridges on the disc’s surface–called the Rings–to stabilize flight. By aggressively marketing Frisbee-playing as a new sport, Wham-O sold over 100 million units of its famous toy by 1977.

High school students in Maplewood, New Jersey, invented Ultimate Frisbee in 1967. UCI students have always been addicted to the various Frisbee games that have been invented over the years, from Ultimate Frisbee (shown in the photos above in 1980), to Frisbee Golf, Freestyle Frisbee, etc.

Today, at least 60 manufacturers produce the flying discs–generally made out of plastic and measuring roughly 20-25 centimeters (8-10 inches) in diameter with a curved lip. The official Frisbee is owned by Mattel Toy Manufacturers, who bought the toy from Wham-O in 1994.

December 1, 1965 — UCI’s first basketball game

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The UC Irvine basketball team won their first game against UC Riverside on December 1, 1965 after two “ex-officio” players – Chancellor Dan Aldrich and UC Riverside’s Chancellor Ivan Hinderaker – competed for the ball during the opening tip off.  The first UCI Athletic Director Wayne Crawford addresses the crowd before the game, Head Coach Dan Rogers prepares the team, the cheerleaders are cheering, and there isn’t an empty seat in the gym!

 

Chancellors Aldrich and Hinderaker at tipoff

The team lined up before the game

Chancellors Aldrich and Hinderaker

Getting ready to start the game

Cheerleaders

UCI Men's basketball team

Cheerleaders

CIA (Completely Insane Anteaters)… in 1968?

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Varsity Basketball game in 1968.

Varsity Basketball game in 1968.

It’s basketball season again, and the CIA (Completely Insane Anteaters) are out in numbers to cheer the varsity team on to victory! The tradition of a large student fan base of support at basketball games goes back to the first UCI basketball game on December 1, 1965. Here’s a photograph of a game in Crawford Gym in 1968 against the CSUF Titans. TRAMPLE THE TITANS!

A Brief History of UCI’s Crew Program

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Crew became one of UCI’s six founding sports in 1965. Duvall Hecht founded the program and was the Head Coach for many years. He had been an Olympic gold medal winner while at Stanford in 1959. In 1963 he proposed to Chancellor Aldrich that UCI introduce crew. He had the idea that Newport Harbor, especially the channel between Lido Island and the Newport Beach mainland, would be a perfect course for racing. Hecht raised funds for equipment and for construction of a boat house at Shellmaker Island.  The rowing program has a long line of highly successful athletes.  UCI has sent six athletes to compete for the United States in the Olympics. Unfortunately, the rowing program was cut as a Varsity NCAA team in 2009, as part of significant campus financial cutbacks that year.  Duvall Hecht returned as coach to help bring back the program in the 1990s, as he has done more recently to keep crew moving forward. The UCI men’s rowing team, which has been part of Campus Recreation’s club sports program since 2009, practices daily at the UCI crew base in the Back Bay. In April of 2013, the UC Irvine men’s rowing team took first place in the varsity eight-man event at the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association championship. UCI overcame such league rivals as UCSB and UCLA to win its first WIRA championship title in 11 years.

The First UCI Men’s Basketball Game: December 1, 1965

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It’s basketball season! The very first UCI basketball game was held over 47 years ago in December, 1965. The Anteaters played the Highlanders of UC Riverside in Campus Hall (now Crawford Hall), where Chancellor Dan Aldrich and UCR Chancellor Ivan Hinderaker tipped off to begin the game.  The ‘Eaters went on to win the game with a score of 85 to 71! ZOT ZOT!

Good luck to the men as they play Cal Poly this Wednesday January 30th, and to the women as they play Pacific on Thursday January 31st!

Anteater Sculpture at Bren Events Center

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The Bren Events Center opened on January 8, 1987, when the men’s basketball team beat Utah State 118-96 in front of a sold-out crowd. Current NBA Head Coach Scott Brooks (Oklahoma City Thunder) scored 41 points for the Anteaters that night.

The Graduating Class of 1987 commissioned artist Billy Fitzgerald to design and cast the 430-pound bronze sculpture which stands in front of the Bren Events Center.  Fitzgerald also designed the statue of the UCLA Bruin on the UCLA campus.

AS-061. University Communication Photographs. Special Collections and Archives, the U.C. Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California. Box 128.

1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles

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The Regional History collection in Special Collections and Archives has a collection of the daily programs issued at the 1932 Olympic Games. The Games of the 10th Olympiad took place in a variety of venues throughout Los Angeles from July 30 – August 14, 1932. The daily programs in the collection include annotations about many of the competitions, noting times or scores of particular competitions, as well as annotations of World and Olympic records. Of special interest was the demonstration game of American football, which took place on Monday, August 8, 1932. A team made up of players from USC, Cal and Stanford (the West) played against a team of Yale, Harvard and Princeton players (the East). On the West coaching staff was Glenn “Pop” Warner. Among the world records established or tied at the 1932 games were two by the legendary Mildred “Babe” Didrikson, in the 80-meter hurdles and the javelin. In all, seventeen world records were achieved at the games.

The Official Program for Monday, August 8, which featured a demonstration of American football.

Annotations for the “Babe” Didrikson world record in the 80-meter hurdles on August 4, 1932..

World records established or tied at the 1932 games.

Map showing locations of the 1932 events.

Buffy Rabbitt, UCI cross-country and track star 1986-1990

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Buffy Rabbitt, a five-time All-American in cross-country and track and a two-time NCAA Region 8 cross-country champion, ran for UCI from 1986 to 1990 under legendary coach Vince O’Boyle. In 1987, the UCI women’s cross-country team finished first in the Pacific Coast Athletic Association (in 1988 the PCAA changed its name to the Big West Conference). Buffy Rabbitt, a freshman, placed fourth in the NCAA championships that year, the highest finish to that point in the history of UCI women’s cross-country. She was women’s cross-country PCAA Athlete of the Year in 1987 and again in 1990.   Buffy also worked as a student assistant in the Langson Library Reference Department during this period. It was always hard to believe that this somewhat shy, yet kind and helpful student could turn into such a fiercely competitive athlete when she ran. In 1998, Buffy Rabbitt was inducted into the UCI Athletic Hall of Fame, along with former basketball coach Bill Mulligan, water polo player Jeff Campbell and golfer Jerry Wisz.

AS-061. Communications Photographs. Special Collections and Archives, the U.C. Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California.

UCI Basketball All-Americans

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As March Madness reaches a fevered pitch and the NCAA Division I championship games approach, a review of UCI Men’s and Women’s basketball accomplishments seems appropriate. Although neither program has ever won a national championship, there is a tradition of strong teams and players. Below is a list of UCI basketball players who have achieved All-American status while playing at UCI:

MEN’S BASKETBALL
Phil Rhyne 1972
Kevin Magee 1981-82
Ben McDonald 1984
Tod Murphy 1985
Scott Brooks 1987
Wayne Engelstad 1988
Jerry Green 2001-02

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Cheri Graham 1984
Allah-mi Basheer 1996

One of the greatest UCI players ever was forward Kevin Magee, pictured in early 1981 with legendary Men’s Head Coach Bill Mulligan. Magee played at UCI in 1980-81 and 1981-82.  A two-time All-American and Big West Conference (then PCAA) Player of the Year, he was selected by the Phoenix Suns in the second round of the 1982 NBA Draft. He played in Italy, France, Israel and Spain  throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, and was one of the greatest European players of that (or any) era. Kevin Magee averaged 26.3 points and 12.3 rebounds for the Anteaters. He still holds school records for points, with 46 against Loyola Marymount, and rebounds, with 25 against Long Beach State. Bill Mulligan said that Kevin Magee was “the best basketball player I ever coached.”  Kevin Magee died in a car accident in Louisiana in 2003.

AS-061. University Communication Photographs. Special Collections and Archives, the U.C. Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California.